There has never been a time in the history of Catholicism when a Purple Bishop has called on the faithful of his diocese to wage war on his first day in office, and His Excellency Archbishop Pommerson, who has never taken the usual path, has made this exception.

"If you are being persecuted and killed, you will surely hope for reinforcements from the Church and for God's salvation as you hope for the stars and the moon!"

Archbishop Pommerson was always emotional, but he was tired of Stalllon, and the phrase "looking forward to the stars and the moon" was really difficult to translate.

"But, Your Excellency..."

Kinniko reminded the archbishop that even if the shogunate did want to be punished, it would have to be approved by the Holy See and the Pope. Although the Purple Bishop has supreme authority in his diocese, he does not have the power to declare war on a country. The declaration of war is the power of the Church against heresy and the power of the Pope over the evil regime.

"Generals, the king's orders are not subject to anything. By the time the Pope approves it, the daylilies are cold. ”

Archbishop Pommaison replied with a Chinese proverb. Stallone didn't know how to translate this sentence, so he translated it as the Pope was not here, and the archbishop had the right to declare war on the Pope's behalf and carry out the actual act of war, otherwise the people of God in Japan would be slaughtered.

Kinney Court did not question this, because in the Pope's personal letter, the power of the Eastern Diocese was given to Archbishop Pommaison, and the archbishop was right, and now he sent someone to Europe to report the matter to the Holy See, and it would take at least a year to wait for the Holy See's reply. I am afraid that at that time, there would be no Catholic Church or believers in Japan.

"Where are our troops? Do you want the priests of the Eastern dioceses to start mobilizing now? In that case, we must buy ships and weapons, and hire fighters, otherwise we will not be able to punish the devil of the shogunate. ”

Stallon did not lose his mind as a staunch warlord, and he knew very well that the amount of money needed for this punitive war was staggering. But war funding is one thing, and the shortage of weapons and combatants is even more fatal. It is impossible for the Holy See to send mercenary troops from Europe, at most it can only let the ** teams in the East assist and cooperate, but all countries have selfish intentions and are not very obedient to the Holy See, and it is difficult to expect those pirates to stand up for the persecuted God's people.

"For the sake of God and for the sake of God's people in Japan, the Church should not care about the loss of money. And if we win the war, our losses should naturally be compensated by the Japanese shogunate. Archbishop Pommaison said this, but only answered half of Stalllon's questions.

"Your Excellency, as your assistant bishop, I need to remind you that the army of the shogunate is a fully armed army, and their iron spear corps is not weaker than the army of the Ming Dynasty, nor is it weaker than the army of Europe. If we want to defeat the shogunate's army, we need a well-trained army, not an improvised army of believers and mercenaries. The archbishop's optimism made Guo Jujing a little worried, and he couldn't help but remind.

"If the Eastern Diocese can provide sufficient money and food, I will personally ask His Majesty the Ming Emperor to allow his army of the Son of Heaven to contribute to the Church in the form of a mercenary."

Archbishop Pommaison threw out what he ultimately wanted to throw. Yes, that is the existence of the Ming Imperial Army. If the Catholic Church can bear the military expenses of this war, he believes that the Ming Imperial Army will no longer have to worry about the future, and will move forward bravely to build a new Japan and establish a royal paradise for the Han nation in the spirit of reform.

As long as he has money, His Excellency Pang Maichen does not need the church to hire warships and fighters, everything can be settled in his old man's house.

"But..."

"Nothing."

Archbishop Pommerson interrupted Bishop Guo Jujing's words, and then said to him and all the priests present in a commanding tone: "All the funds of the Church in the East must be transferred, and if something goes wrong, I, the archbishop, will bear the responsibility." ”

"Your Excellency, even if we were to draw the funds of the dioceses as you wish, it would obviously not be enough." Stallon was the right-hand hand of Matteo Ricci, the former President of Jesus, and naturally knew the accounts of the Jesuits of the Catholic Church in the Eastern dioceses. He was sure that the power of the Church in the East alone would not sustain this war.

Archbishop Pommerson waved his hand and said impatiently: "If it is not enough, we will send someone to the Vatican and let the Holy See give us support, urgent support, immediate support!" We want to tell the Holy See in no uncertain terms that if we do not carry out a punitive war against the shogunate, the Catholic Church will lose Japan! ”

"Okay."

Stallon kept his mouth shut, a populous country and the loss of money, he could still weigh who was light and who was heavier.

"As I have just said, all dioceses must mobilize all their resources, and if everyone gives a little love, the world will be full of love, Amen!"

His Excellency Pommerson drew a cross on his chest. According to his old man's meaning, Catholicism has a history of more than 100 years in the East, and although the development of the Ming Dynasty has not been smooth in the past 100 years, it is still mixed well in other countries, not to mention that there are millions of believers. So, if a believer gives a penny to the church, the sum of that is a significant amount. Not to mention that the Catholic Church also has a large number of talent advantages, as well as scientific and technological reserves.

In short, this war is settled.

But my father-in-law will never pay out of his own pocket again, and his old man has no food left.

"Your Excellency, will His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty lend his pro-army to the church?" A new Western clergyman asked suspiciously, and the rest of the clergy also cast suspicious glances at His Excellency the Archbishop.

"Yes, but," His Excellency Pang Maichen looked at Stallone with a little meaning, "I need a sum of money to deal with the people around His Majesty the Emperor, I am in a hurry, can you make it up?" ”

"Isn't Your Excellency someone from the Emperor's side?" Stallon was a little surprised, as far as he knew, the archbishop in front of him was not the favored slave of the Chinese emperor. As long as His Excellency the Archbishop himself goes and tells the Emperor that it is necessary to spend money on someone else in this matter?

"You don't understand, in the East, you may not be able to do things if you spend money, but if you don't spend money, you will definitely not be able to do things." His Excellency Pommerson had a mysterious look on his face, and stopped Stallone's curiosity with a determined look.

Stallone nodded, "Well, Your Excellency, how much money do you need?" ”

The archbishop did not give a real number, but asked his assistant bishop how much he could come up with.

"This..."

Stallone consulted with two clergymen from Macau and told their archbishop that the Jesuits could offer 5,000 taels of silver for His Excellency the Archbishop.

When the archbishop heard this number, his face became ugly on the spot.

Five thousand taels?

Your grandmother is a claw, and this little money is not enough to send her food. You guys are also in the Jesuits in China, and I don't believe that Raushzi Jesuit activities are funded like this.

The archbishop shook his head dissatisfied, and solemnly asked Stallone how many Jesuits in Macau had. This is also the proper meaning, and now the leader of Eastern Catholicism is his father-in-law Wei, not someone else.

"The property of the Church is not private..."

After talking nonsense, Stallone gave the archbishop a credible amount, the "liquid" funds of the Society of Jesus in Macau were about 200,000 taels, but the fixed property could be estimated at two or three million taels if it was estimated to be silver. This fixed property refers to the Church's business in the East, the church and the land it occupies, not only in China, but also in Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea.

Wei Gonggong thought that this amount was about the same, and that Catholicism was originally the richest institution in the world, not one of them, but the only one. The Pope, as the head of the Catholic Church, is also the big boss of this institution. In later generations, Catholicism spent as much as the world's largest multinational corporation in a year's revenue, and its assets were beyond the reach of companies of any size. But no one knows exactly how much money Catholicism has, because it has religious property immunity.

The overall nature is like China's three extermination of the Buddha, the reason is that this "Buddha" is too rich, and the same is true of Catholicism, and the Pope is richer than the Buddha.

Catholicism has developed in the East for hundreds of years, and it is not too much to have a fixed property of two or three million taels. But this liquidity is still too little, Stallone explained that every year the Jesuits have to allocate a large amount of silver taels for the branch churches of various dioceses, church clergy to live, maintain, recruit, books, almsgs, transportation funds, officials, transport back to the Holy See, etc., so the expenses are also very large, and I am afraid that there will not be much left by the end of the year.

However, no matter how expensive it is, it has to be used closely by the archbishop. Punishing the Japanese shogunate is the first fire at the point of the new archbishop's appointment, and there is no room for failure.

Therefore, His Excellency the Archbishop explicitly asked Stellone to immediately send someone back to Macao by sea, and ordered Long Huamin, the president of the Macau Jesuit, to extract 100,000 taels of silver and escort him north to be delivered. At the same time, in the name of the Oriental Diocese, he recruited "volunteers" in Macao and Luzon to launch a crusade against the evil Japanese shogunate.

After making a series of arrangements for church affairs, Gonggong Wei cordially received the military personnel and technicians from Macao, and then ordered them to be sent to the imperial army and the maritime yamen for resettlement, in which the General Staff Department already had a charter.

In the lounge of the Oriental Church, Grandpa Wei saw the real object of cinchona, a large bag of powder and dozens of "bonsai" that had been carefully cultivated and brought to the East, as well as a small bag of seeds.

"Your Excellency, this is the cinchona, which the Spaniards got from the Indians, specifically for the treatment of malaria, and it is very effective."

Stallone told the archbishop what he had heard about the cinchona. It is said that more than twenty years ago, a Spanish count brought his beloved wife Ena to Lima, the capital of Peru. Unfortunately, Ena contracted malaria and was cared for by an Indian girl. Seeing that Ena's condition was getting worse, the Indian girl decided to quietly treat her with cinchona.

But what she did, the Count quietly watched it, and thought that it was the Indian girl who wanted to murder his wife, so he wanted to punish her, and the Indian girl had to tell the secret of the "cinchona tree". After Ena recovered, the Count returned to Europe with cinchona bark and seeds.

Wei Gonggong regarded it as a treasure and gently pinched a little cinchona with his fingers, put it between his nose and smelled it, there was a very special smell, but he couldn't say it. I am even more glad to see that the cinchona saplings transplanted in the flower pot are full of vitality, and if these cinchona trees can survive in the vast sea to China, then they will definitely be able to survive and grow in Taiwan. Because, the climate in Taiwan is not much different from the climate in South America.

"This thing is like our guts!"

After returning to the town guarding the yamen, Gonggong Wei handed over the small bag of cinchona powder to Tong Jia's good life for safekeeping, and then summoned Wang Dali, the chief soldier of the navy, and ordered the combined fleet to prepare to attack at sea in three days.